


Spectre

by orphan_account



Series: Spectre [1]
Category: Transformers: Prime
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Gen, Psychological Drama
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-01-30
Updated: 2016-02-15
Packaged: 2018-05-17 05:11:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 6,048
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5855434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When life gave me lemons, I somehow got prune juice. Don't ask me how.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Enemies

“Starscream. There are Decepticons already at the mine.” 

I peered down the scope of my rifle at the dig site, a few carts of energon already outside the mine with twice as many guards. 

“It’s safe to assume that there are still a few inside, but it would be easy to take the guards I can currently see and obtain the energon. We would be in and out in less than a minute and they would be none the wiser.”

There was a moment of silence, then, “Very well. Engage the targets. You will provide an excellent distraction while I claim my prize.”

I paused at his wording, and then shook my head as I placed the crosshairs of my scope on the nearest robot. 

“Roger that.”

I squeezed the trigger and the first laser blast hit the ‘bot directly between the eyes, dropping it without a sound. Quickly, I turned the rifle to the next target and squeezed the trigger once more.

Boom. Headshot.

By the time the second body hit the ground, my optics were trained on my next target, who was only just starting to realize that something was wrong.

That split-second hesitation was all I needed to remove his left optic from his head.

The remaining robots quickly jumped into action as they began running and gunning towards my snipers post, forcing me to duck close to the ground as their shots whizzed over my head.

“Alright Starscream, the guards are distracted. I’ll meet you at the rendezvous point.”

I ducked as another shot hit the dirt near my head and threw soil into the air.

Hearing no reply, I glanced up at the incoming robots and spotted my partner as he snatched two of the carts. He looked at me with a smug grin, then transformed and rocketed away, the sound of his engines causing the Decepticons to look back in confusion.

“Big mistake!” I shouted as I vaulted over the embankment that had been shielding me from their weapon fire and punched the closest one in the back of his metal head before throwing his body at his partners, causing all three to fall to the ground in a pile of writhing metal. 

Giving a mock salute, I transformed into my vehicle mode and revved my engine before fishtailing past them to add a little dirt to the mix.

“I’d love to stay, but there’s some energon waiting for me back home! Catch ya later!”

I revved my engine once more, then took off into the woods, my taillights giving one last wink at them before I disappeared into the foliage.


	2. Debt

_I stared at the numbers on my screen, then back at the ticket in my open palm. My spine felt as though it was frozen solid, and my muscles were all locked up, the only movement being my eyes as they darted between the computer and the paper in my hand._

_I had looked at each of the numbers enough times for their digits to have been seared into my brain, each number trotting by like a train about to enter the station._

_Finally, my head fell backwards as I let my hand drop to my side._

_“Oh my fucking god…..”_

_I closed my eyes and exhaled explosively._

_“I just fucking won the lottery.”_

* * *

 

 

“Starscream!” I called out as stepped out of the sunlight and into the dark interior of the ship, the numerous light’s casting a violet hue across the dark metal.

 

An exasperated sigh came from ahead, followed by a clank of metal.

 

“Back already, Spectre?” He asked almost tauntingly as I stepped into the room, a mix between a smile and grimace on his face.

 

“Obviously. No thanks to you.” I shot back as I picked up an energon crystal from one of the collected carts and examined it. The crystal seemed to be almost pulsing with the energy trapped inside.

 

“No thanks to me!?” He said angrily as he strode towards me.

 

“As I recall,” He said as he snatched the crystal from my hand. “I was the one who brought the energon back here! Not to mention….” His voice dropped to a low menacing growl. “You wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for ME, Spectre...”

 

He dropped the crystal back into its’ cart as he turned and walked a few steps away, his arms behind his back as his red eyes looked at the glowing screen in front him. It was the main command center, covered in a variety of symbols and other strategic applications and allowed the user to detect any Cybertronian item or being if in range and unshielded.

 

“Or do you not remember who brought you back from death, out of the very kindness of my heart? Do you not recall who found you, in the wastes, nearly drained of energon and alone?!”

 

Starscream turned and began to advance towards me menacingly, his eyes locked with mine.

 

“Do not attempt snide remarks at me, YOUR savior, when I could just as easily through you back into the wilds without a means to survive!”

 

My hands curled into fists as I took a step forward. “I could survive easily without you. I don’t need YOU to survive!”

 

Starscream stopped and crossed his arms as a look of a mock realization crossed his face.

 

“Ah yes, I forgot. You have sooo many friends. I’m sure one of your many Cybertronian pals would take you in and care for you at a moments notice.”

 

The smug look returned to his face as he leaned back. “Or perhaps one of the factions would take you in, just like that.” He said as he snapped his fingers.

 

“Maybe they would.” I retorted as I scowled at the Cybertronian.

 

“Ahh yes, I’m sure the Decepticons would accept you very willingly into their ranks if you just asked. I mean, sure, you just stole a cache of energon from them, but bygones be bygones, correct?” He asked as he leaned forward.

 

“Wrong!” He snarled as slashed his arm in front of him, causing me to take a step back to avoid his claws.

 

“The Decepticons have NEVER been forgiving.” He hissed as he stepped closer to me, causing me to step back in reply, his eyes glowing brighter with every movement. “The moment you revealed yourself they would take you down just the same as an Autobot. And if they didn’t kill you immediately, they would kill you slowly as they extracted every ounce of information out of your memory banks.”

 

My back foot hit the wall as he pushed his face close to mine

 

“And the Autobots? They wouldn’t trust you for a minute. It would be the same situation as with the Decepticons. Except they…” He pressed his claws against my neck. “…don’t take prisoners.”

 

I didn’t dare move as Starscream pressed his claws against my neck… but the meeting was cut short as a beeping sound came from the command center.

 

In a blink, Starscream was at the monitors, allowing me to give a sigh a relief at the lack of claws at my throat.

 

“What is it?” I asked as I stepped towards the terminal.

 

“It appears that both the Decepticons and the Autobots have discovered something.” He muttered, the previous interaction momentarily forgotten as he turned to face me.

 

“But we, will take it first...”

 


	3. Social Identity

_I forced a nervous smile, as I stood in front of the camera’s, the constant flashing like a strobe light beaming straight into my eyes. I couldn’t see a thing, and it hurt like hell._

_I had gone back to the store that I had purchased the winning ticket from, and it had all become a blur from there. While I would have much rather accepted the money anonymously, the state I lived in didn’t give lottery winners that option. So now I was forced to put up with reporters, an oversized check, and way too many screaming people. They all wanted to see who the winner was, and were probably hoping to coerce me into giving them a share, as if that made sense._

_Eventually, I was able to escape from the crowds and to my car, which offered a welcome semi-silence as the metal door separated me from the gawkers and pleaders, each one of them wanting a piece or glance of me._

_On the way back to the college dorms, my phone vibrated. I glanced at it and saw a text from my mom, just asking how I was doing. Oh, if only she knew._

* * *

 

 

With the site of the convergence a rather sizable distance away, we were forced to use an unorthodox method to get the two of us there in a reasonable amount of time.

 

This method consisted of me riding on top of Starscream’s jet form, much to his displeasure due to both weight and the demeaning position of ‘being like a transport form’, as he so acidly put it. And while I would have loved to travel standing atop of him like a surfer, I wasn’t quite confident in his ability to stay stable. So I resigned myself to laying prone atop of the jet as we rocketed towards our destination.

 

Our destination had been indicated as lying in the northern Idaho, deep in the Rocky Mountains. The snowy peaks that we passed as we neared our destination had a layer of snow on their peaks, which was colored a pale pink by the setting sun. The snow had not yet reached further in to the valleys shadowed by the mountains.

 

After a time, I began to hear the faint sounds weapon fire echoing off of the steep mountain’s sides.

 

“It would seem that we may be late.” I commented as Starscream made a beeline for a ridge, beyond which the weapon fire could be heard. When we were close enough I leapt off of his vehicle mode and hit the ground with a roll before coming to my feet and striding towards the top of the ridge, my rifle in my hands.

 

“Never again…” Starscream growled behind me as he transformed behind me. “I will never again stoop to such a demeaning level…”

 

Ignoring him, I aimed my rifle into the valley below.

 

“Well? What do you see?” Starscream asked impatiently as he crossed his arms.

 

“There are quite a number of bots down there…” I muttered as I scanned the whole area and counted at least 15 Decepticons. They were all firing across the valley at the other side, where the Autobots were returning the favor from behind cover. Three of the Decepticons had unique markings and one had… purple optics? That wasn’t a trait I’d see before in a bot. I wasn’t one to talk though, as my own optic color was orange, which Starscream had brought attention too on more than one occasion.

 

“We DON’T have all day Spectre...!” Starscream hissed, breaking me from my thoughts as he began to walk back and forth impatiently.

 

“I count 15 Decepticons, at least three of which have unique designs. One of them’s pretty big too, with purple optics.” I could sense Starscream tense up beside me, making me a little curious, but I continued anyways. “And there are five Autobots as well, they’re putting up a good fight despite the troop difference.” I paused as two of the robots broke off from the fight.

 

“Two, one red and the other yellow, are heading into a rather sizable cavern at the end of the valley.”

 

Starscream formed his claws into a fist and stepped forward. “That must be where the artifact is located. Do not engage either faction. We must acquire the artifact at all costs.” He said as he morphed into his jet form and shot down into the valley, leaving me behind atop the ridge.

 

“We should probably… stick together…” I ended up muttering to myself as I transformed into my vehicle mode and raced down into the valley after Starscream.

 

Feeling the slight pressure of time, and the even greater thrill of the rapid decent down the semi-forested ridge, I pushed myself to my top speed, only barely managing to dodge the trees and rocks on my way down. Eyeing a section of the hill that flattened out into a ramp-like cliff, an idea formed in my mind. It was a dumb and incredibly risky idea, but at that moment I decided to ignore the rational part of my self.

 

Steeling myself, I aimed for it and pushed myself as hard as possible.

 

There was a moment a pure elation as I felt myself leave the ground and sail over the battle. I could imagine dramatic music playing as I flew in slow motion over the oblivious bot’s heads. I unfortunately wasn’t flying in slow motion, and the panic began to set in when I realized that despite the epicness of the jump, I was still going to hit the ground really hard.


	4. Aggression

_My hands gripped my hair as I trembled, angry at the whole world. I had thought that maybe, maybe people wouldn’t change. Maybe I could go back to my normal life and people wouldn’t look at me differently when they saw me in the hallway, or when I walked into a classroom. The way a teacher would say my name in class. The way the servers in the cafeteria put food on my plate._

_It wasn’t subtle. Right off the bat people would start asking me for things. Help with their tuition, money to pay off their parents or other relations debts, be it medical or other._

_I wanted to help them, I really did, but I also realized that I couldn’t help everyone. I had to reject people, and while an unbiased person would look at the situation and realize it was borderline rude for people to just walk up to me and ask for money, it was hard for me to not hate myself sometimes, and it was even harder for others to even like me after they asked. After only a short while people were starting to give me the evilest looks, and I felt as though everyone around me was starting to become my enemy._

_I had decided to set my parents up for a nice retirement by giving them a reasonably sized chunk of my winnings. They had freaked out when I broke the news to them, and the other members of my family had reacted similarly. I gave my sister enough money to pay off her and her husbands college debt, and help them start their own private practice. Her husband was a doctor, and she acted as his financial advisor. They accepted the money gratefully, and didn’t ask for more, which made me glad. I didn’t want that relationship to change._

_I also planned to give my brother enough money to see him through college, seeing as his debt was starting to go through the roof, but he began asking for more shortly before I gave him the money._

_“Why can’t you just give me like a couple million more?” I remembered him asking. “It’s like 2% of your winnings.”_

_“It’s not that simple…” I started, before he cut me off._

_“Not that simple?! Of course it is! Stop hogging all of the money for yourself!”_

_I left quickly after that in anger, but still sent him a check for a million dollars, seeing as he was my brother. I made one thing clear to him. He wasn’t going to see me again unless it was for something other than money._

_It was shortly after the meeting with my brother that it happened. I was on the interstate just after sundown when a large blue truck began to tailgate me. I at first assumed it was just some dick speeding, so I changed lanes. The truck followed me over into the other lane and my hands started to get sweaty. I drove a cheap little Nissan Versa, and if the truck started to get aggressive, I wouldn’t stand much of a chance. I had been planning on buying a newer car with my new money, but hadn’t quite gotten around to it._

_I was slowly increasing my speed, hoping to maybe pull ahead of the truck, but it didn’t slow down. My eyes glanced at my speedometer. 120 miles per hour. I heard the sound of the truck increase as I glanced up, and realized the truck had accelerated and was now pulling up alongside me. The window rolled down and I saw the muzzle of a gun._

_I slammed on the brakes, my heart in my throat as the truck shot ahead before slamming on its’ brakes. Quickly I turned my wheel and accelerated down the off ramp that I had been lucky enough to be near when I hit the brakes. I could feel the adrenaline rushing through my veins as I turned into one of those small towns that always frequent the interstate and spotted the sheriffs office almost immediately._

_Pulling into the parking lot, I practically jumped out of my car as I parked next to the curb and ran inside. The officer at the front desk looked up in alarm as I stumbled in, my breathing fast and my eyes scared._

_“Sir, are you okay?” He asked as he stood up and walked around the desk, one hand on his hip, and the other in front of him._

_“I was just attacked! There was a blue truck and a gun and…”_

_“Sir! Slow down! What happened?” The officer said as his hand left his hip._

_I paused and closed my eyes, forcing myself to calm down before I started again._

_“I was on my way home on the interstate when a blue truck started to tailgate me. I tried to let it pass but it just followed me into the other lane. When I tried to speed up, it pulled up next to me and the driver pointed a gun at me. I managed to escape by braking and pulling off on to the off ramp.” By now my breathing had slowed down and my heart felt like it was finally returning to a normal rhythm._

_After that, the night felt like a blur. The sheriff’s office had tried to get more details out of me, but I couldn’t remember any more. It had been too dark to see anything._

_By morning, I was back on the interstate. I had asked the deputy if I could have gotten an escort, just in case the aggressor had returned, but they told me that it had most likely been a hit and run. I didn’t believe that. I could remember the day I had received the check. There had been more than enough people there to see what my car looked like, and my license plate._

_One thing was for sure though, I was going to get a new car, and I was going to move far away._

* * *

 

 

The ground was approaching me like a runaway train, appearing more lethal the closer I got. A landing would hurt, a lot.

 

Suddenly, I heard a jet roar overhead and with reflexes I didn’t know I had, I began to transform and grabbed the edge of Starscream’s wing with my metal hand, my sudden weight causing him to tilt rapidly as he started cursing at me.

 

“You fool! Let me go!” He screeched as he began to hurtle towards the ground in an uncontrolled spin. The world around us became a blur to me as I lost all sense of direction, just barely hanging onto his wing for dear life. My transformation finished just moments before we hit the ground with an explosion of dirt and rocks.

 

I groaned as I came to, shaking off the dust and rocks on my body as I glanced over at Starscream, who appeared to have caught a face full of dirt on the landing when he had attempted to transform at the last second. His wing didn’t look so good either.

 

“Starscream.” I started as he grunted and tried to rise from the crater he had made. “We should hurry before th-“

 

“STARSCREAM!”

 

Starscream looked over his shoulder and his eyes widened with fear. “M-Megatron!” He stammered as he began to scramble backwards

 

I rolled over and saw the robot with the purple eyes charging us, his arm cannon glowing a deep magenta as he prepared to fire it at us. At this range, I began to realize that he was quite a bit bigger than I or Starscream was. And he looked really mad.

 

I staggered to my feet and raised my rifle, taking aim at Megatron’s firing arm and letting loose a shot. The laser hit his shoulder just as he fired, causing the shot to go wide, but he didn’t slow.

 

“RAGGHH!” He growled as his eyes locked with mine. “Once I finish with your ALLY, I will make you SUFFER, STARSCREAM!” He roared, his optics burning fiercely with rage.

 

I took a step back when I saw the ferocity in his optics, and decided right then that that was a fight I would not win. I fired off another shot at the charging juggernaut, then turned and transformed into my vehicle mode as I raced towards the entrance to the cave.

 

“Move it Starscream!” I said as I raced past the robot who was still scrambling to his feet.

 

Glancing into my rearview mirror, I saw Starscream running after me with Megatron close behind, but right behind the two of them I noticed a blue motorcycle approaching quickly. It overtook Megatron and Starscream easily, and was soon right on my tail

 

Revving my engine, I accelerated and turned my high beams on as I shot into the cave. Dodging between a few pillars, I followed the tracks of the cars that had entered before me.

 

The cave twisted and turned like a snake, and I had to swerve more than once as a large rock loomed out of the darkness and threatened to crush me against it. Despite the winding nature of the dangerous tunnel, I always had a constant spray of headlights from the motorcycle behind me, no matter how fast I went.

Like the flip of a switch, I abruptly found myself entering large and very bright cavern, in the center of which were two robots locked in a battle over a rusted item that looked like it had been stabbed into the floor. As I raced closer to what I could assume was the artifact, the red bot managed to gain the upper hand and threw the yellow one across the cave at the wall.

 

“Now, for the artifact.” He said, seeming pleased with himself as he turned grab it.

 

I never even gave him time to react as I transformed and kicked him in the chest, sending him tumbling backwards until a rocky outcropping stopped is backwards motion. ”I’ll take that.” I said as I gripped the handle and pulled it out of the ground.

 

The object was of medium length, and ended at a point. Other than being bronze in color, I couldn’t note any other significant characteristic to tell me what the thing might do.

 

My thoughts were interrupted by a female voice. “Drop the key.” I turned my head and saw a blue and gray robot pointing their gun at me. But she, as I could only assume from the voice, hesitated. “You’re not a ‘con.” She said suddenly, as if surprised.

 

I was taken aback by the statement. From what Starscream had told me, both the Decepticons and Autobots were incredibly violent. The fact that I hadn’t been shot already by the smaller robot caught me off guard, not to mention she had decided to say that of all things. According to Starscream, It wouldn’t matter if I was a Decepticon or not, either way I was their enemy.

 

“How can you tell?”

 

“You just kicked a Decepticon into the wall, and your optics….” The sudden shaking of the cave caused her explanation to be cut short. I stumbled to the side before steadying myself while she dropped to one knee.

 

“Spectre! Now is the time to leave!”

 

Starscream came sprinting in to the cavern just as the exit behind him exploded, dropping rocks from the ceiling. Starscream pointed a rocket at the female as he approached, who responded in kind, forcing Starscream to slow as he looked over at me.

 

“Take out the Autobot, now!” He ordered, keeping his rocket trained on the robot.

 

“But….”

 

“No hesitation Spectre! Do it!”

 

I was torn as I raised my rifle and pointed at her. “I…” The rifle was not steady as she looked at me with widening optics. “I’m sorry...”

 

The robots fellow Autobot must have recovered from it’s fight because the next thing I knew I was being tackled by a mass of yellow. We rolled across the ground and when we stopped, the yellow bot was on top as it punched me in the face with its’ metal hand. Letting go of the key, I blocked its’ next attack with my now free hand before kicking the bot off me. I scrambled to my feet and attempted to bring my rifle around, but the bot knocked it aside as it delivered two punches to my chest.

 

I let go of the rifle and blocked its’ next punch before throwing a swift kick at it’s leg. It dodged the attack nimbly and danced back and forth on its’ two legs, much like a boxer would, before it threw another punch. I sidestepped behind its’ attack and grabbed it’s arm, putting my leg between its’ own before using my momentum to throw it over my shoulder and to the ground. It hit the ground hard, but still managed to roll out of the way as I attempted to slam my fist into its’ chest, causing me to hit the ground instead.

 

The robot got to its’ feet quickly and kicked me in the back of my leg, causing me to give a cry of surprise as my leg gave out and I fell to one knee. I made to get up but froze as I heard the hum of an energy weapon next to my head along with an arrangement of beeps from the bot.

 

“So… weak.” A cold voice hissed. I looked up to see Starscream, the artifact in one hand and the female bots’ neck in the other. His face showed only disdain as he looked at me.

 

“For a while, I had hoped you would make a valuable subject, that with your service I would have risen above the Decepticons and Autobots and commanded my own legion. But now you’ve shown me, how could you ever be a viable soldier if you can’t even beat an Autobot?” He tightened his grip on the bot as his mouth twisted into a malicious grin.

 

“Goodbye, Spectre. I hope your death is quite… painful…” Throwing the bot away from him, he transformed into a jet and rocketed upwards through the opening in the cavern roof.

 

 


	5. Personal Preference

_The car was beautiful. That’s all I could think as I looked at it sitting in my garage. It had initially come in just a plain grey, which I considered a crime considering the car, but since I had recently come into a considerable sum of money, I had gotten the paint scheme customized to an iridescent black with a wicked dark green tint. The idea had come from a video game I had enjoyed playing when I was younger, and to me it had come out perfectly._

_After the incident on the highway, I had decided to move out west, to Washington State. It was there that I had bought a house outside of Seattle that had very few neighbors, and an incredibly nice view._

_The process of moving in had taken quite a bit. Not because of any amount of items that I had, but more because of the furniture I had to fill the house with just to make it livable. But considering I had never had an opportunity like this before, I made sure to have as much fun as possible choosing the furniture for each room._

_When I first stepped into the Bed, Bath, and Beyond, my eyes had gone straight to the prices on the beds, at first considering each ones price versus cost-benefit; typical college student thinking. I had to force myself to realize that the price didn’t matter anymore. Only what I considered to be the most comfortable and practical. Even then, it still took me a good week to find and transport all of the furniture to the house._

_The night I had finally moved the last of the furniture in, I found myself laying in my bed with a bucket of popcorn, watching a movie with a famous actor I couldn’t remember the name of. It was Richard or something. The movie was alright, with a couple of cool action scenes and the typical sappy love scenes, but it wasn’t until a car chase scene that I realized that I had forgotten with all of the moving to get my own car._

_After my realization, it took me a while to fall asleep as I stared at the ceiling with all my thoughts on what kind of car I would buy. When I woke up the next morning, I knew what I wanted. I called a taxi to pick me up after I returned my rental car and told him to take me to the address of one of the Nissan dealerships in town._

_Leaving a one hundred dollar tip, and a wide-eyed taxi driver behind, I headed into the dealership. Just as I stepped through the doors, my eyes found the car I wanted. It was a Nissan Skyline GTR, sitting on display in the middle of the floor of the dealership. It looked brand new, with a shiny steel grey paint job. The paint job made me cringe a little on the inside, but I knew I could change it as I purchased the car with a good sum of money. The paperwork went by quickly without having to deal with any payment plans, and I was out of the dealership only fifteen minutes later, this time behind my own wheel._

_At first I considered taking my car to an auto shop to change the paint job, but then reconsidered after a little research led me to some more expensive, but more reliable car experts. After some phone calls, I hooked myself up with a good mechanic who was situated a small distance from my house._

_His name was Nigel, and he was easy to talk to considering my very limited knowledge of cars._

“…the artifact was captured by Starscream before we could secure it… Understood. But before we return… there’s been an unforeseen complication. We have a prisoner.”

 

My mind barely registered that she was talking about me as it had been left in turmoil due to Starscreams’ abrupt departure. While he had hardly been the nicest or reasonable being, he had been the one that had saved my life, and taught me how to survive. Sure, these had come with a price tag, but at least he had been there. But now he was gone, and had left me in the hands of those he had called merciless killers.

 

If they even were.

 

Sure I was on my knees with an Autobot pointing a weapon at my head, but the female bot had not seemed overly hostile or violent towards me, even after I had pointed a gun at her head.

 

“…no, I don’t think he’s a con... Understood.” The female glanced at me as a swirling vortex of green and white opened behind her. The yellow robot beeped at me and nudged me in the direction of the portal. Climbing to my feet, I walked towards the vortex nervously as the female disappeared into it. It’s motion was almost mesmerizing, and I wanted to pause to watch it, but the bot behind me pushed me with its’ gun again and I stumbled into the vortex.

 

If the entrance had been mesmerizing, the inside was breathtaking. The vortex formed a sort of hallway, with streams of green, blue, and white warping along the walls. A ring of light blue outlined the ‘hallway’ every 10 meters or so, beckoning me like a gateway.

 

I would have stayed to stare for a while, but I was reminded that there was a bot behind me. I walked forward and after a few seconds found myself stepping out of the vortex and into a sort of underground base. The walls seemed to be made of a sedimentary rock substance, which was supported by metal braces. More metal structures filled the room, and there was a bank of monitors off to the side.

 

Before I could observe more of the room, I was distracted by a red and white robot that was eyeing me warily. “Optimus and the others are awaiting a ground bridge.” It turned back to a control panel and adjusted some parts, before glancing back at us. “Keep your weapon on him Bumblebee. It was dangerous enough to bring him here.” The yellow bot nudged me with its’ gun as it directed me away from the entrance to the vortex then made me turn around to face it, forcing me to my knees as he did. As I watched, the vortex, or ground bridge as the robot had referred to it as, seemed to pulse with energy before stabilizing again. Moments later, three robots stepped out of the vortex. The first was white and blue with hints of red detailing sections of its’ body. It gave me a curious look as it stepped into the room.

 

The second was a dark green and was much bulkier than the other robots, with one hand in the shape of a large, metal ball. This one gave me a much more guarded look, and I could sense a tenseness in it’s step as it regarded me. “Who’s the ‘con…?” I heard it grumble to itself.

 

The third and final robot stepped through the vortex, and I immediately could tell who the leader of the group was. It stood tall and proud with red, blue, and white armor, radiating an air of leadership and honor as it regarded me with its’ optics. I began to feel uncomfortable under its’ piercing gaze. It seemed as though it could see inside me and read my thoughts if it wanted to.

 

“What is your designation?” It suddenly asked, its’ voice a deep baritone.

 

“I am called Spectre.” I answered carefully, trying to keep my voice steady. I was starting to feel very self-conscious of all of the optics on me. Any move I made would be seen, and anything I said would be heard.

 

The robot frowned as his eyes glanced at my appearance before focusing on my optics. “That is not a name I recognize, and I know of many names, Cybertronian or otherwise. Which side were you aligned with in the battle for Cybertron?”

 

“I…” I hesitated. I knew what I actually knew, but I didn’t know if that’s what they, it, wanted to hear. I knew I could lie, but if they asked me a question later that I wouldn’t know the answer to… “…don’t know…” I finished.

 

That answer appeared to take them all by surprise, judging by the confused looks and muttering from the other robots in the room. Even the yellow robot, the one they had called Bumblebee, gave what seemed to be a confused beep. The robot stepped forward and kneeled, putting itself on about the same level as me.

 

“Do you remember the War for Cybertron?” I shook my head. It paused as it considered me. “When did you arrive on Earth?”

 

“I don’t know.”

 

“What is the earliest memory you can recall?”

 

I paused for a moment. “The earliest memory I can recall…” _A blue light…_ “Is waking up here, on Earth…” _Pain. Unimaginable pain._ “…in a field of energon”

 

_Death_

 

 

 


End file.
